Last month, we told you to mark your calendar for this year as there would be abundance of movies coming to you. One of them is of course, “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens”, from a franchise that made George Lucas a multi-billionaire. Scheduled to be released end of this year, one can expect huge amount of money to be made from merchandise. And if you’re a die hard fan of Star Wars, you’ve better start saving money for their toys.

If you’re a Star Wars fan and an investor, so much the better. Your toys could turn out to be a goldmine, as what a Star Wars collector just found out. Craig Stevens, from Croydon, South London, is one of those fanatics who has as many as 10,000 Star Wars items in his collection. He was also the former chairman of UK Star Wars Fan Club. When the first Star Wars was released in 1977, he was one of the children who queued at cinema.

Mr Stevens didn’t know what is about to hit him 35 years later (2015) when he bought “Boba Fett” character, a bounty hunter (sent by evil Darth Vader) from the 1980 The Empire Strikes Back, the second of Star Wars franchise films. The toy was retailed for merely £1.50 when it was released in 1980. A figure in similar condition would sell for around £50 in 1990. But this year, 45-year-old Craig Stevens is £18,000 (US$27,300; RM99,100) richerwhen his toy was sold at an auction.

Since he bought it for £50 in 1990, it was a staggering 35,900% profit.Mr Stevens also sold 69 lots of his other Star Wars memorabilia for a combined total of £23,796 at Vectis Toy Auctioneers in Stockton, Teesside. But none of them beat his Palitoy-made “Boba Fett”, despite the character’s 3-minutes appearance in the film. Of course, if you wish to strike a similar goldmine, make sure it’s still in its original “factory fresh condition”.

The toy which Mr Stevens sold was also “un-punched”, which means the card had not been pierced to allow it to be displayed on a peg in a shop. If only he had bought the same toy in 1980 for £1.50, that would translate into a profit margin of a whopping 1,199,900%. Or perhaps he could hold the “Boba Fett” for another 10 years. But since he needed to raise cash to buy a house with his wife Karen, it was nice money, nevertheless.

One of the reasons why the toy attracted huge biddings was because the character is believed to be one of only four or five to exist in such pristine condition. Beside the winning bid price of £18,000 over the internet, the anonymous UK buyer must also pay 20% commission to the Vectis auction house in Teeside. In this case, obviously the force is with Mr Stevens. Talk about crazy Star Wars fan who’s willing to part £21,600 for a toy.

Vectis claimed the previous record sale for a British-manufactured Palitoy Star Wars figure was £10,400. A further 15 will be sold next month. As usual, now that a 35-year-old Boba Fett (in pristine condition) is worth more than 25,000 US dollars, you can bet that people would start salvaging their garages, storerooms and possibly turn their parents’ house upside-down in search of their old childhood collection of Star Wars toys. Here’re top-10 toys sold: